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Auburn High School Tigers
First season 1911
Staff
Athletic director Chuck Furlow
Head coach Tim Carter
3rd year, 27–10
Current uniform
Stadium
Home stadium Duck Samford Stadium
Year built 1968
Stadium capacity 7,120
Stadium surface Grass
Location Auburn, Alabama
League/Class
League Alabama High School Athletic Association
Class 7a
Team records
All-time record 505–347–33 (0.589)
Playoffs record 8–12
Awards
Conference/region titles 18
All-State players 52
All-Americans 2
Pageantry
Colors Royal Blue and White            
Fight song Hooray for Auburn!
Mascot Samford

Football was one of the first sports organized at Auburn High, with the first game being played in 1911.[1] In the nine seasons between 1915 and 1923, Auburn High lost only 5 of 62 games, scoring unbeaten records in 1915, 1918, 1919, 1921, and 1923.[2] The Tigers also had unbeaten regular seasons in 1934, 1952, and 2008—Auburn's eight unbeaten seasons rank second among class 6A schools in Alabama.[3] AHS's overall record of 505–347–33 is the third–winningest overall record in 6A.[4]

Auburn High's football team competes in Region 3 of class 6A along with Central High School of Phenix City, Dothan, Enterprise, Northview High of Dothan, Opelika, Russell County, and Smiths Station High Schools.[5] AHS's primary football rival is the Opelika High School Bulldogs from nearby Opelika, Alabama. Auburn and Opelika have played 81 times, including each year since 1933.[6] Auburn also has traditional rivalries with Central High School of Phenix City (44 games), Lanett High School (44 games), and Valley High School (48 games).[7] The Tigers had previous rivalries with Sidney Lanier High School in the 1910s and Columbus and Jordan High Schools of Columbus, Georgia in the 1920s and 1930s.[8]

An Auburn High School football player.

Since 2004, Auburn High has produced more All-Pro National Football League players than any other high school. AHS alumni in the NFL include Marcus Washington of the Washington Redskins (Pro Bowl 2005), Osi Umenyiora of the New York Giants (Pro Bowl 2006, 2008), and Demarcus Ware of the Dallas Cowboys (Pro Bowl 2007, 2008, 2009).[9] Auburn High's Dee Finley was a USA Today All-American in 2007, as was Philip Yost in 1999.[10]

Auburn High has twice been ranked first in the state (the weeks of October 5 and October 19, 1967), and proceeded deepest into the playoffs in 2001, when the team reached the semifinal round.[11] AHS has won the region, area or conference championship on eighteen occasions since 1921: in 1922, 1923, 1925, 1926, 1927, 1929, 1934, 1937, 1940, 1948, 1952, 1967, 1972, 1973, 1987, 1990, 2004, and 2008.[12]

The football team's home field since 1968 is 7,120 seat Duck Samford Stadium. AHS previously played at Felton Little Park (1949—1968), Auburn Stadium (1939-1947), Drake Field (1911-1920, 1935-1939), and Ross Field (1921-1935). The head coach of the Tigers is Tim Carter, who is 27–10 with three playoff appearances in his three years as AHS coach. Carter replaced Robert Maddox, who in three years at Auburn led the team to three playoff appearances and a region title in 2004. Football games are broadcast on the radio and over the Internet by station WAUD AM 1230.[13]

Facilities

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Auburn High School plays home football games at Duck Samford Stadium in Auburn, Alabama. Duck Samford Stadium was constructed in 1968, and seats 7,120 spectators.[14] The field is named after James Drake "Duck" Samford, a former Auburn University football player and longtime supporter of youth athletics in Auburn who donated the land for the facility.[15] Previous home football facilities included Felton Little Park, Auburn Stadium, Drake Field, and Ross Field.

Traditions

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Fight songs

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Auburn High School's primary fight song is "Hooray for Auburn!". The lyrics to "Hooray for Auburn!" come from a cheer that was commonly used in the mid-twentieth century. In 1961, Auburn High School band director Tommy Goff wrote music to fit those lyrics to create the current fight song. In subsequent years, the fight song was adopted by other schools, including Prattville High School and Opelika High School. At football games, "Hooray for Auburn!" is played after a touchdown.[16]

"Glory, Glory to Ole Auburn"—often simply "Glory"—was Auburn High's fight song before "Hooray for Auburn!" was written in 1961 and is currently a secondary fight song of Auburn High. "Glory, Glory to Ole Auburn" has the tune of the chorus of the "Battle Hymn of the Republic", while the lyrics are identical to those of the University of Georgia's "Glory, Glory" but substitute the word "Auburn" for "Georgia". At football games, "Glory, Glory to Ole Auburn" is played after a successful PAT conversion.[17]

For the 1955 football season, Auburn High used the Alabama Polytechnic Institute fight song "War Eagle". An earlier school song, "We're Loyal to You, Auburn High", was used from the 1920s through the 1940s. "We're Loyal to You, Auburn High" has the melody of "Illinois Loyalty".[18]

Mascot

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Auburn High's mascot is the tiger. The tiger was chosen because of its association with Auburn in Oliver Goldsmith's 1770 poem The Deserted Village. The first line of the poem is "Sweet Auburn! Loveliest village of the plain", while a later line describes Auburn as, "where crouching tigers wait their hapless prey."

Auburn High's costumed mascot is Samford, an anthropomorphic tiger. Samford was created in 1995 and named for three symbols of the school: Samford Avenue, which runs by the school; Duck Samford Stadium, Auburn High's football stadium; and Samford Hall, the most prominent building in Auburn. Kari Pierce was the first Samford in 1995.[19]

Conference and region championships (18)

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Auburn High has won a combined 18 conference or region championships since 1921.

Year Conference Overall Record Conference Record
1922 East Alabama 6-1 6-1
1923 East Alabama 6-0 5-0
1925 East Alabama 7-1 6-0
1926 East Alabama 7-1-1 6-1-1
1927 East Alabama 7-1-1 5-0-1
1929 East Alabama 6-2 4-1
1934 East Alabama 7-0-1 6-0-1
1937 East Alabama 7-1-1 7-0-1
1940 East Alabama 7-1 6-1
1948 Border Conference 8-1 4-1
1952 Border Conference 8-0-1 6-0-1
1967 Border Conference 8-1-1 6-1-1
1972 Border Conference 8-2 7-0
1973 Border Conference 7-2-1 6-0-1
1987 Region 6 8-3 2-1
1990 Region 5 10-2 3-0
2004 Region 3 7-4 4-2
2008 Region 3 12-1 7-0

Conference or region affiliations

  • 1911-1921: None
  • 1922-ca. 1945: Alabama High School Athletic Association (AHSAA) - East Alabama region
  • ca. 1945-1975: AHSAA - Border Conference
  • 1976-1981: AHSAA - Class 4A - Region 4
  • 1982-1983: AHSAA - Class 4A - Region 5
  • 1984-1989: AHSAA - Class 6A - Region 6
  • 1990-1993: AHSAA - Class 6A - Region 5
  • 1994-1997: AHSAA - Class 6A - Region 7
  • 1998-1999: AHSAA - Class 6A - Region 5
  • 2000-present: AHSAA - Class 6A - Region 3

Head Coaches

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Coach Years Record
Tim Carter 2006 - Current 27 - 10 (as of 11/21/08)
Robert Maddox 2002 - 2005 22-22
Dwight Jones 2001 8-6
Bill McCall 1994 - 2000 34-37
Wayne Proffitt 1987 - 1993 42-31
Randy Nichols 1984 - 1986 17-13
Jay Davis 1977 - 1983 40-27-3
Thomas Walls 1969 - 1976 46-32-2
James Mason 1968 2-8
Sentell Harper 1966 - 1967 10-8-2
R. L. Beaird 1945 - 1965 96-90-11
Gerald W. Hause 1942 - 1944 15-10-3
Falcon LeCroy 1937 - 1941 26-15-2
W. B. "Bully" Hitchcock 1935 - 1936 7-4
Gordon Fowler 1933 - 1935 13-6-3
Frank DuBose 1931 - 1932 6-5-2
W. G. Grainger 1930 4-3-1
Otis Bynum 1927 - 1929 16-7-1
Carson "Pea" Greene 1926 7-1-1
Russell "Slick" Moulton 1924 - 1925 10-5
Charlie Gibson 1923 6-0
W. C. Simmons 1922 6-1
Unknown coaches 1916 - 1921 43-2-2
Burt 1916 1-2
Unknown coaches 1911 - 1915 1-2

References

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  1. ^ Alabama High School Football Historical Socity, Auburn – 1911, retrieved July 28, 2008.
  2. ^ "Lee Co. High Will Meet Tallassee on Ross Field Friday", Opelika Daily News, September 21, 1922; Alabama High School Football Historical Society, Auburn Yearly Record, retrieved July 28, 2008.
  3. ^ Alabama High School Football Historical Society, Auburn Yearly Record; Alabama High School Football Historical Society, Team Records, retrieved July 28, 2008.
  4. ^ "Lee Co. High Will Meet Tallassee on Ross Field Friday", Opelika Daily News, September 21, 1922; Alabama High School Football Historical Society, Auburn Football Team History, retrieved July 28, 2008; Alabama High School Football Historical Society, All–Time Team Records Sorted by Total Wins, retrieved July 28, 2008. Record as of the end of the 2007 season. Of teams in AHSAA Class 6A, Benjamin Russell (579 wins) and Foley (508 wins) have more wins than Auburn.
  5. ^ Alabama High School Athletic Association AHSAAsports.com - Football - Alignments, retrieved January 21, 2007.
  6. ^ Alabama High School Football Historical Society, Auburn vs. Opelika, retrieved July 28, 2008.
  7. ^ AHSFHS, Auburn vs. Central Phenix City, retrieved November 21, 2008; AHSFHS, Auburn vs. Lanett, retrieved November 21, 2008; AHSFHS, Auburn vs. Central Phenix City, retrieved November 21, 2008; AHSFHS, Auburn vs. Fairfax, retrieved November 21, 2008. Fairfax was a previous name of Valley High School.
  8. ^ Thomas Hall, "Auburn High School Team Wins Annual Game from Sidney Lanier" Montgomery Advertiser, November 28, 1919; AHSFHS, Auburn vs. All Opponents, retrieved July 28, 2008. Columbus Industrial was a previous name of Jordan High School.
  9. ^ NFL Enterprises, LLC, NFL.com - Probowl, retrieved January 21, 2007; databaseSports.com, Player List, retrieved January 21, 2007.
  10. ^ naplesnews.com, Signing Day: Gators announce 2008 class, retrieved July 28, 2008; Scott Cain "Tigers primed to roar", Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, August 7, 2003.
  11. ^ AHSFHS, Auburn Rankings, retrieved July 28, 2008; AHSFHS, Auburn – 2001.
  12. ^ Region championship data collated from accounts in the Auburn Bulletin/Lee County Bulletin (1937–1969), Opelika Daily News(1921–1936), Opelika–Auburn News (1970–2006), and the Auburn Plainsman (1921–1936).
  13. ^ Tiger Communications, Inc. Auburn High School Sports from Tiger Communications, retrieved November 8, 2006.
  14. ^ Auburn Bulletin, October 23, 1968.
  15. ^ Elizabeth D. Schafer, Auburn Football. (Charleston, SC: Arcadia, 2004), 27; Minutes of City Board of Education, Auburn, Alabama, March 1965.
  16. ^ Auburn High School Band music library, "Hooray for Auburn!"; interview with Tommy Goff, 2002; Jimmy White, "Friday pep rally sends team on the road to state", Prattville Progress, December 13, 2006; . The lyrics to "Hooray for Auburn!" fall into the public domain because they were legally published within the United States (or the United Nations Headquarters in New York subject to Section 7 of the United States Headquarters Agreement) before 1964, and copyright was not renewed. See also the Rutgers copyright renewal records and Stanford Copyright Renewal Database for further information. The act of publication occurred when the music and lyrics were offered by the copyright holder to LaFayette High School in 1963.
  17. ^ Interview with Tommy Goff, 2002. The lyrics to "Glory, Glory to Ole Auburn" fall into the public domain because they are a rewording of the chorus of Amherst's "Marching Song of the Alumni" and Georgia's Glory, Glory both of which were published prior to 1923. See Amherst Graduates' Quarterly (1911), p. 15."
  18. ^ Carolyn Jenkins, "Ephemera - Lee County High School", Carolyn Jenkins Collection, RG 93, Auburn University Special Collections and Archives (1927).
  19. ^ Auburn High School, The Tiger, vol. 52.